


What's In a Name?

by JennaCupcakes



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 16:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9333734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennaCupcakes/pseuds/JennaCupcakes
Summary: There's a story to the Rogue Squadron. And there's a reason no one uses the call-sign 'rogue one' anymore.





	

_“Do you know why there’s no Rogue One in the squadron?”_

The question always comes from one of the rookie pilots, sooner or later. They have yet to be acquainted with the vast mythology of rebellion history, passed on through stories rather than records, because records can be stolen and leaked. Stories never die. It’s the only thing that never dies out here.

Wedge stands at the side of his X-Wing in the hangar when he overhears the question, from one of two newer, younger pilots tinkering with their fighters. He puts down his screwdriver, closes his eyes for a second, and rests his forehead against the cool metal of the fighter. To him, the memory is fresh, but in the collective conscience of the Rebellion, it is already history.

“I heard the first Rogue leader died, and her call sign never got reassigned. There’s only a Rogue leader now.”

That’s as close to the truth as the myth gets these days. Wedge never met Jyn Erso in person, but he hopes that wherever she is, she is happy with that. 

* * *

 

_“Do you know why there’s no Rogue One in the squadron?”_

Wedge Antilles remembers relaying the story of Rogue One to Luke Skywalker, not long after Yavin IV and a little while before they moved to Hoth. It had been Luke who had suggested naming their squadron _Rogue_ after that, and Wedge had the breath knocked out of him momentarily. It was maybe the first time he’d felt something akin to love for Luke Skywalker.

“Without these people, I wouldn’t be here,” Luke says, and Wedge wonders whether Luke feels regret for the chain of circumstances that cost so many lives: his aunt, his uncle, his mentor, his friend. And that’s just the personal tally sheet of the death toll. Wedge can’t remember all the names of the pilots. He writes letters with names and planets blurring into each other, and reassigns call signs.

“Without these people, none of us would be here,” Wedge agrees, “And we will honour them.”

Luke gets that pensive look on his face that he seems to have picked up from his former Jedi master. Maybe he hopes it will make him look older, more experienced, instead of young and frightened.

“Tell me about Bodhi Rook again,” Luke asks, and Wedge knows he doesn’t really want to hear about Bodhi. He wants to hear the story of a friend who defected even before heading to the Imperial Academy, but Biggs Darklighter is gone and nobody is telling stories about him, not even Luke.

Some stories don’t heal. 

* * *

 

_“Do you know why there’s no Rogue One in the squadron?”_

He’s used it in teaching just as many times now, probably, a question to reprimand and discipline hotshot pilots, to remind them of their place in the larger struggle. But to Wedge, the story is always deeply personal, too. He was there. He remembers. And now it’s history.

So many of them don’t even survive weeks. Not right now, with the Empire at their heels, the Rebellion thrust into the spotlight. He and Luke spend long evenings discussing how they can justify putting their pilots at such a risk, and Luke, who has a misplaced sense of responsibility for being force sensitive, is always too cautious. He can’t accept sacrifices, not yet.

In time, Wedge teaches him.

“We choose this,” Wedge says, “All of us, all the time, every time we step into an X-Wing. You have a better chance of surviving than most of us, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us shouldn’t try.”

Luke’s lips are tight, the dark circles under his eyes betraying the lack of sleep. They argue ethics more than they argue battle plans. Wedge knows it’s because they’ve grown too attached to each other.

“I know you would like to train an army of force sensitive pilots and that would be the end of that, Luke, but you can’t. All you have is us. A bunch of Corellians, Twi’leks, Gotals, Lothalites, Mon Calamaris, Alderaanians, the regular people this galaxy has to offer. But we fight, because the Empire doesn’t give us a choice.”

“You know that’s not what I meant, Wedge,” Luke says.

“I’m not force sensitive, and I’m still the better pilot between the two of us,” Wedge interjects.

“I’m just saying, there is a responsibility that comes with my powers…”

“All of us have a responsibility to stand up in the face of injustice,” Wedge says pointedly, “You do know why there’s no Rogue One in this squadron.”

They don’t bring up Yavin IV as often anymore nowadays, but when they do, the pain still flares like a fresh wound.

Some stories don’t heal.

Luke avoids his gaze. “I just wish they wouldn’t die so fast.”

Wedge takes his hand. 

* * *

 

_“Do you know why there’s no Rogue One in the squadron?”_

The story goes that days before the battle of Yavin, a squadron of rogue Rebellion fighters led a covert assault on an Imperial facility, allowing the plans that lead to the destruction of the Death Star to be stolen.

The story goes that they used the code name _Rogue One_ to sneak off base.

The story goes that none of them made it out alive. 

* * *

 

_“Do you know why there’s no Rogue One in the squadron?”_

Leia always quips that it’s because they’re all rogue ones, the impossible, foolhardy, brash pilots that go where no one else dares to go and do things that nobody else can. Wedge likes that story more than he likes the truth, on the bad days.

After Luke resigns as Rogue leader and Wedge takes up his call sign, he feels the name is a bad omen sometimes, as more people die under him, and die, and die, and keep dying. He taught Luke how to accept sacrifices, and unlearnt it himself.

Wedge still flies like nobody else can, but his enthusiasm is lacking, he spends more time sitting in his room staring at a blank wall than he cares to admit, until one day, Luke finds him and sits down next to him.

“Do you know why there’s no Rogue One in the squadron?”

Wedge looks at Luke with his mouth turned into a joyless smile of disbelief. He’s not in the mood for games.

“Because people die, that’s why,” he responds. The name is an admission to the shortness of their lives so that the larger cause might live. It’s a tribute to a world where stories are gravestones, because not even planets can last.

Luke frowns at Wedge in concern, then takes his hand.

“No, it’s because some people live to tell a story.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know that technically, Wedge is 'rogue one', but I like this headcanon, too.


End file.
